"The Secret Army," a new documentary on the making of a historic 1972 documentary filmed inside the IRA, has been commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland.
The feature-length documentary follows journalist Darragh MacIntyre as he attempts to unravel the mystery surrounding the making of an extraordinary U.S. documentary that was filmed inside the IRA in 1972, the bloodiest year of the Troubles.
The film vanished for nearly 50 years, but during his investigation, McIntyre manages to uncover the original film reels in New York. He also tracks down a member of the American production team present in Northern Ireland for the filming and meets with some of the former IRA men who appeared in the documentary.
“In 1972, an unusual film team turned up in Northern Ireland but none of them had any real obvious experience in making documentaries, yet they were given exceptional access inside the IRA," said MacIntyre.
"In our investigation, despite the passage of over 50 years, we’ve tried to find as many of the pieces of the puzzle to reveal how this documentary was made.”
Producer John O’Kane said: “One of the biggest challenges was finding anyone still alive who knew anything about how this was made, or why the IRA agreed to allow this team to follow their operations, given the legal risks of appearing on camera. It was all shrouded in mystery – and in peeling back the layers of this story we’ve discovered something that is much more complicated than we imagined.”
Adam Smyth, Director of BBC NI commented: “In its 50-year history, the Spotlight team’s track record speaks for itself in breaking big and important stories in the best traditions of investigative journalism. Darragh and the team behind this new feature length film for BBC NI and BBC Four have uncovered a significant story about our past and with dogged determination have brought it to light.”
Produced by BBC NI’s award-winning Current Affairs team, "The Secret Army" will be broadcast on BBC iPlayer, BBC NI and BBC Four in the coming months.
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